30 years on, China, ASEAN strengthen all-round cooperation

The 18th China-ASEAN Expo is held from September 10 to 13 in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Enterprises from over 40 countries and regions are participating in this year's expo, which is held both online and offline and boasts a total exhibition area of 102,000 square meters.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of dialogue relations between China and ASEAN.

Over the past 30 years, the two sides have seen bilateral trade skyrocket from 8.36 billion U.S. dollars to 685.28 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, an increase of over 80 times, according to Chinese customs data.

China has remained ASEAN's largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years, and in 2020, ASEAN also became China's largest trading partner.

Besides trade and economic cooperation, China and ASEAN have been committed to extensive cooperation in various other fields, including security, education and tourism, to safeguard regional stability and promote common development and prosperity.

China's official data shows that personnel exchanges between the two sides exceeded 65 million in 2019 before the onslaught of COVID-19. They have exchanged over 200,000 students and formed more than 200 pairs of sister cities.